Annual Report

I shall give my report as in previous years by following as far as possible the format of the ‘Five priorities agreed by the Church Council in September 2004’ in an effort to see how we are getting on. I shall seek only to mention briefly those items covered in reports given by others. There will be some repetition of my reports of previous years but that is because God not only calls us to new things but also to persevering love in ongoing activities.

1. Evangelism/Church Growth

We have to do this for two reasons: A) Love for people – the gospel is good news both for the present and for the future. B) We need new members – we are losing 2 or 3 members through death every year.As we always expected, the numbers are going down slowly but surely, because people die or move. But while there were under 2000 white people living in the parish at the 2001 census (and there are probably fewer now), two thirds of our church members live outside the parish but nearby – do we have contact with at least some of our neighbours? And colleagues, or ex-colleagues? Or family-members? Or friends? I agree with Mary Fairhurst when she writes in her Social Committee report ‘The aim of the committee is to stimulate and encourage members of the congregation and friends outside the Church to join together socially, and also to take part with people from neighbouring Churches in corporate activities.’ Do they think you believe in Christ enough to invite them to worship at Christmas, Easter or Harvest? If Christ is good news for us, is He good news for them? We don’t have to preach them a mini-sermon, just invite them along sometimes to worship with you. A good excuse to bring up the topic would be to refer them to our website www.stthomaswerneth.co.uk - if you are not online, invite the person you are talking to, to visit the website with you. And this might give you the incentive to contribute new photos or text via Tony Kane!

Then at St Thomas’ we are called to continue sharing God’s Good News in a clear, attractive and relevant way. A highlight this year was the Service of Prayer in October in which we travelled around the building stopping at various ‘stations’ to take part in different types of prayer. While, occasionally, we should have invitation services as at Harvest, Christmas or Easter, all our worship should be accessible both to people who are returning after a long absence and to those who have never taken part. There should be imagination and variety in the preparation of worship. Surveys have shown that more people come to faith in Christ through attending worship than by any other route. It is encouraging that Azam Shirazi began worshipping with us when she knew very little English but she knew that Christ was with her as she worshipped. This gave her the conviction that she should be baptized – as she was with 3 friends in March 2011.

Church Growth is not only about what we do directly in Coppice it is also about how we give to and receive from other Christians elsewhere in the country and in the world. We have learnt how prayer, patience and discretion are essentials for Nathaniel and Donna Jennings in Bangladesh, and especially as they have had to return to Ulster for the time being because of the need to care for Micah and Tabitha. We have rejoiced with Beth Jennings and her colleagues in her new homeless Children’s Uplift Project in Bangladesh (which includes mothers). Last week I learnt that some of the mothers are to start paid work, and a national on the staff has been promoted to director while Beth continues on the staff. Daniel, Nathaniel and Beth grew up in St Thomas’ and have maintained links even though they have moved away. I continue as Vice-Chair of the Manchester – Lahore Diocesan Link, which gives a useful perspective on our relationship with Pakistani-heritage Muslims in our area. I note that in 2010 we gave £3259 to Missions and other agencies which is slightly less than a tithe (tenth) of our income of £39587. Many years ago our Church Council decided to follow the biblical principle for all God’s people of giving a tithe of our income. Regrettably many churches do not teach this, still less follow it. We can praise God that we almost manage it in these difficult financial times – in all our individual and family giving, we must be honest with ourselves and honest with God about what we can afford. None of us knows the circumstances of anybody else.

2. Worship

Including Sunday School and Prayer. These need to be prepared carefully to provide good opportunities for all participants. We need to develop Healing Ministry, which will be of interest to some Muslims if offered sensitively. We need more musicians including singers. Obviously, the people who lead worship have an important, though not decisive, influence on how easy it is for everyone else to worship: the priest, the Sunday School team, the Bible passage readers, the leaders of intercessions, the assistants at Holy Communion, the musicians and the sidespersons. We owe all of them much gratitude for their contributions. An innovation recently has been the participation by the Sunday School in the offertory procession. Many have remarked on the plus factors of our time worshipping in the school assembly hall – being closer to each other which both makes a sense of fellowship and gives confidence in singing. I think there’s a message in that! We have continued to have one Service of Wholeness and Healing each quarter at which most people have requested ministry. And ministry has been available after the 10.30 worship every Sunday. Not many avail themselves of this offer but we seek to be true to the New Testament which records that Jesus spent as much time healing as preaching. Healing includes visiting people in their homes and in hospitals. Many thanks to all who do this, in particular to Barbara Duxbury who also ministers the already consecrated bread and wine. It is often easier to share concerns in smaller groups in which participants feel safer. The Home Groups and the Mothers’ Union (the latter of which also has other aims) seek to provide opportunities for learning, worship and fellowship. More participants in the home groups are taking a turn in leading which is stretching for them and stimulating for everyone else!

3. Witness to Asians

The best way is through individual friendships. In addition we can serve together in, eg. Coppice Community Centre, and the projected ‘Positive Perceptions’ cross community youth project. Our Wardens have mentioned the Holiday Club the success of which was due to the leadership and attention to detail of Kathy and Graham Lees, to the willingness of team members to volunteer and to everyone who worked with God in prayer. ‘Positive Perceptions’ – a project providing an opportunity for individuals in youth groups to discover their family and local histories: after several disappointments in grant applications and finally wintry weather and other factors forced its still-birth. The ‘Oldham Reaching Muslims’ monthly prayer group has continued rotating around several churches and giving stimulus to the 3 members of St Thomas’ who take part. I continued as Minutes’ Secretary of the Interfaith Forum and enjoyed part-leading 2 discussions. In 2009 our Church Council proposed to Oldham West Deanery Pastoral Committee that there should be a half-time Mission Support Priest working in interfaith education. By February 2011 this was given support by both Oldham Deaneries and by the Diocese, and advertisements and interviews will take place in June. Mission Support Priests are funded by the diocese as extra to the priest-staffing to deaneries.

• 4. Presence

This means letting people know or reminding them that C of E Christians are worshipping and/or living on the Coppice. This is often necessary before Church Growth can begin. Our school is a major part of our presence here and I am grateful to all the staff and governors, the new Chair of whom is Pam Brocklehurst. Each governor has been allocated a year group with whom to relate and visit. The school is now a 2-form entry and it is very good that Mrs Knowles has been able to return full-time to us after managing another school at the same time. We continue to welcome Hulme Kindergarten for worship at Easter and Harvest – families come from all over Oldham and beyond, and seem to belong to a variety of religious and ethnic groups. A few of us are regular attenders of PACT, a West Oldham body through which the Council, the Police and others keep each other informed and seek to work together. The Tudor Community Sports Group was formally set up 4 years ago to develop the all-weather pitch built both for our school and outside school hours for others – I am Chair and Tony Kane is Secretary of this, with Cllr Javid Iqbal as Treasurer. In the year we arranged holiday activities through Greenhill Community Sports Club, and we made progress towards the installation of floodlights carefully designed to minimise inconvenience to local residents. On 29 April the Group organises a second Fun Day this time in co-operation with St Thomas’ Social Committee’s Royal Wedding Tea Party. Biddy Dawson was elected Chair of the Oldham Unity for Refugee Support, the business meetings of which are held monthly in our vestry. In addition I represent Oldham Unity on the Migrant Communities’ Policy Group of Oldham Council and Partnership.

I am grateful to those who give sacrificially to the work of St Thomas’, without whom there would be a far less obvious Christian presence in Coppice. But I draw your attention to our Treasurer’s comments on her written report prefacing the Annual Accounts: ‘overall we finished the year with a deficit of £3,248 and so to put it simply we are not covering running costs without having to dip into our reserve funds again this year.’ With an average of 38 adults attending weekly this means an average shortfall per head of £85 per year which is £1-64 p per week. Some cannot manage an extra £1-64 weekly: others can manage more than that. Note that we had no choice but to spend £24,000 (approx. one half of our reserves) on the heating system. We need the rest of our reserves to match-fund other grants we will apply for in respect of other necessary work on the building. If you do not worship every week, do you know that through the envelopes or by Banker’s Standing Order you could give every week and at the same time Gift Aid, that is, authorise St Thomas’ to reclaim the income tax paid on all your giving?

5. Relationship with St Paul’s, as we have been requested by the diocese.

Two representatives of St Thomas’ sat on the panel that appointed the Revd Nick Andrewes because he will also become priest-in-charge of St Thomas’ when I retire in late 2013. Partly to prepare for that and partly to review the work of both churches, the two Church Councils have been taking part in a Collaborative Ministry Audit as required by the diocese. This is partly to assess whether or not we have work for Ordained Local Ministers, Readers or other ministers who would be Licensed to the Bishop, and whether other church members would be willing to work alongside them in their assigned tasks. We decided that we would need at least one person (OLM or Reader) to lead worship at least monthly because probably Nick will lead worship in both churches on Sunday mornings, and he will find this tiring - as I know from personal experience elsewhere. It is a diocesan requirement also that an OLM shall have a task in addition to leading worship – we reckoned that could be either promoting church growth or leading relationships with Asians (a ‘Revd’ leader could help) or working with local schools or working with the Tudor Community Sports’ Group. However, we noted that the maximum age at which a candidate for OLM could start 3 years of training is normally 60, and a Reader 66, though in both categories the bishop may make exceptions. We do have a few people young enough to apply but not many! As an alternative, it would be very good if at least one person once a month could lead Morning Prayer (without preaching) or those parts of the Holy Communion which do not require a priest. The training for this would include the general Foundations for Ministry course run by the diocese, starting in September and continuing until June for 24 Wednesday evenings, for £60 which the PCC would pay. No maximum age limit. Nick, myself and the PCC have yet to finalise what other training would be required for ‘Worship officiants.’

Thanks

It is almost impossible to single out anyone for thanks by name but there are exceptions: May Broome who next month will complete 6 years as Churchwarden. She is an unusual person in that she combines sensitivity to both God and people with attention to detail. Graham Lees has had a very busy year progressing no less than 5 sets of building works – I got a small idea of the work involved by being put in charge for all of a week! Jenny Brisland has had to resign from the Church Council and after being Child Protection Officer for several years. If I had dared to ask Jenny to bend the rules, I know I would have got short shrift! Many thanks to all three of them.

And thank God whose Son Jesus said ‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’ Matthew 11, vs 29.